Page 14 of Never Been Worse

“You don’t get it. He could shift his focus to Ava, to try and fuck with her. And Jules. And Jaime. And Nate. If he wanted to, was given the motivation to, Jeremy could easily destroy all of their reputations and all of their businesses, and I cannot have that on my conscience.”

It’s the closest I’ve come to the truth since everything happened, and it feels surprisingly good.

“Harper, really. We could—” he starts to say.

“I can do this on my own,” I say, forcing a smile onto my lips and slipping back behind my safe, confident, aloof mask. “I won’t let some idiot get to me. I’m just, you know, having a bit of a pity party. This?” I say, waving my hand between us. “This was enough. A good fuck you to my ex, showing him that I can and will get better than he ever was. It’s good. It’s great even.” I’m selling it, and I know it.

I’m so good, I’m almost convincing myself, and when Wes crosses his arms on his chest, leaning back with a smile on his face, I know I’ve convinced him too.

SEVEN

WES

“It’s not enough,” I say and watch her face screw up in confusion.

Harper is so beautiful, and she doesn’t even know it, but right now, she’s even prettier. Those walls she usually keeps tight cracked for the first time since I’ve met her, letting me see the vulnerability and nerves beneath that put-together facade.

When Leo called and asked if I’d be interested in signing up for an auction benefiting Ava’s charity, I said yes, of course. I figured it would be with some woman with more money than common sense or a gift she bought someone she wants to put a ring on it.

When I was toldHarper Abbottwon the bid, I was taken back.

And delightfully so.

Now she’s sitting across from me, spilling worries and insecurities I don’t think even her friends know about or, at least, don’t fully understand, and I am even more endeared by her.

“Yes, it is. Trust me. Those paparazzi photos will cross his path, and it will piss him off. It was a small win.”

I shake my head. “Let’s back it up. You need a place to stay?”

She shrugs, a finger making lines in the salt she knocked over distractedly. She pinches a bit of it before tossing it over her shoulder, then nods.

Cute. So fucking cute.

“Do you want to get your ex back?”

Her face blanches, and she shakes her head quickly. “God, no.”

I figured, but I needed confirmation.

I’ve had an idea brewing in my mind to divert attention since Stella and Riggs told us their news, and it seems like the universe may have dropped the most perfect present into my lap.

“So you want to get backathim?”

“I…I can’t. I think I already learned that lesson,” she says with a small smile.

That wasn’t a no.

“But…you want to?” I ask, and she stares at me for long moments before I add on, “Or, you’dliketo. If you could guarantee he wouldn’t be able to retaliate?”

She shrugs again, then gives me a small smile.

I take it as a yes and nod, understanding. Slowly, an idea is forming in my mind, one that is absolutely insane but one I like a fuck of a lot.

Too much, if I’m being honest, but that’s neither here nor there.

“If I tell you a secret, you’ll keep it?” I ask. Jaime trusts this girl, so I know I can trust her as well. I look over my shoulder at the waiter, knowing Leo had everyone involved with this dinner sign airtight NDAs as he always does.

She nods despite the confusion taking over her face with the seemingly sudden change of subject. “Of course.”

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